On Wednesday, Feb. 25th, Activists Against Racism (AARM) held a community discussion on racism and the media (announcement). 150 people came out to Monroe High School to analyze and critique current state of mass media, as well as look for ways to improve it.

The event included representatives from eleven media outlets including TV Channels 8/31, 9, 10 and 13, WXXI, About Time, The Challenger, Rochester Association of Black Journalists, The Minority Reporter and Rochester Indymedia. A meeting of all of these organizations in one room for any reason is rare, but when the topic is something shied away from as much as racism, it's historic.

An AARM member said this about the event:

Thank you to all the people who shared their frustration with the current state of mass media —- the woman who told the panelists how she called their organizations over and over to cover the news she was seeing in her neighborhood and got no response; the man who talked about how it feels to be criminalized and how deeply media images of black men being dangerous have penetrated into society; the woman who shared her outrage at seeing the Rochester mother who sent her kids to a Greece school be demonized and sensationalized in the press.
[…]
This meeting was successful, but it's just the first step. To all the people who came out: AARM looks forward to continuing to struggle with you to fight for a justice within mass-media, as well as other institutions.

Video of the entire event can be found on indytv.blip.tv.

• Event video part 1
• Event video part 2
• Event video part 3

. Also, check out R-IMC's opening statement